The Roof of Africa

I’m back! So I hiked the tallest mountain in Africa and the world’s largest freestanding mountain: Mount Kilimanjaro. It was the ultimate test of endurance and will, and one of the hardest things I have ever done but I wouldn’t change the experience for anything. We had a great team of guides, cooks, and porters and they really helped us feel welcome and comfortable on the mountain. During the climb I kept a journal, so I will be writing this post in diary form and am not changing much, so these are my thoughts and ramblings as they happen! (I did not change the “Altitude” parts from meters into feet, because I’m too lazy to do that, but if you’re interested, there’s this awesome site called Google that’ll convert it for you! If you’re like me- just know the final elevation is over 19,000 feet.)

Friday, August 19: Day 1

Londorossi Gate to Mti Mkubwa Camp

Altitude: 2360m to 2895m

Distance: 6 km, Time: 3-4 hours

Habitat: Mountain forest

After staying at the wonderful Stella Maris hotel for 2 nights, which is a charitable hotel that runs a primary school next door, Laura and I met up with her family at the Kilimanjaro airport. Then we packed. Stuffing our duffel bags to bulging with all sorts of gear, clothes, odds and ends, we embarked on the 4-hour drive to the starting point of our trek in a van with our 3 guides, and 21 porters.

Hiking was SLOW going today. Regardless of the late start, we still traversed 6 km through the forests to our camp for the night. I felt like I had to monitor my speed because it was almost uncomfortably slow, the reason being it’ll give us more time to acclimate and keep everyone healthy. (Which I understand the importance of now!) If we keep up this pace, we will reach the summit no problem! The temp was reasonable, a little hot, and I sweat buckets anyways, but whatever, a great start to a great journey! We got to our camp around 5:30 pm and got ready for a great dinner of soup, meat, rice, and veggies! Much to my surprise, they provided us with water for washing! I wasn’t expecting to be clean all week! So a quick slash here and there, and bam! Good as new! And guess what?! WE HAVE A TOILET TENT! Say what?! Yeah there’s a little port-a-potty toilet in a tent! No “in the woods” pooping for me! So to say the least, I was pretty thrilled about the camping arrangements!

Saturday, August 20: Day 2

Mti Mkubwa Camp to Shira 1 Camp

Altitude: 2895m to 3500m

Distance: 7 km, Time: 3-4 hours

Habitat: Moorland

Today was the first real test of our endurance and strength. We woke up at 6:30 am, got ready, packed our bags, and were ready for breakfast at 7 am! Mmm, porridge. Not a huge fan but I’m hungry enough that I’ll eat anything. It was a bit difficult today because we gained 2000 ft pretty quickly with some very steep up’s and very few down’s. Once again, it was slow going, but I appreciate that our guide, Richard, sets a steady pace. Going slower helps to conserve energy and with as much up we did, we needed all the energy we had! I’m still confident that I’ll be able to make it to the top! My brother Josh has little faith in me, so I have to prove him wrong and prove to myself that I can do this! It’s more of a mental game than a physical one I think just because it’s long days, exhausting work, and 24/7 time with your group.

Rolling into our camp for the night, we get our first view of the mountain in the distance! Holy cow it’s beautiful and really far away! I’ll be standing on top of that in just 5 days! I mean, WOW! We arrived at lunchtime, so relaxed and ate lunch and then just hung out for the rest of the evening! We played lots of UNO and Smart Ass and had a great time! Later: One of the coolest things I’ve seen is the moon rising up above Kilimanjaro. The clouds have all gone and the stars are coming out, and it’s beautiful! SO MANY STARS!

Sunday, August 21: Day 3

Shira 1 Camp to Moir Hut

Altitude: 3500m to 4200m

Distance: 7 km, Time: 3-4 hours

Habitat: Moorland

Brrr! It’s getting colder at nights and I’m going to have to put on more layers! Our tents were frosty this morning and we could see our breath! I had a pretty restless night and in the morning realized why… Darn Aunt Flo came to say screw you. Literally one of the worst things I had envisioned happening on this trip. Good thing I came prepared. Ladies, always be prepared! Regardless, it was pretty miserable. Today was more of a gentle incline which I was thankful for, but I still ached with cramps the whole way up. We took more breaks which was great but that didn’t stop me from crying in pain because I couldn’t just roll up in fetal position and die a slow death. I popped in my headphones and just focused on myself for the better part of the day. It was a really pretty hike and it’s cool to see all the different vegetation! Today the mountain loomed closer and closer and I’m surprised at how big it really is. Until you’re standing at the base looking up, you just don’t realize what you’ve gotten yourself into.

After lunch and some relaxation time, our guides, Richard, Elias, and Baraka took us on an acclimatization hike. We had to hike up another 500 or more feet, hang out for half and hour, and then come down. Hike high, sleep low. I’m still feeling pretty good at this point- a little headache which was gone by dinner, an upset stomach which was fixed after a visit to the toilet tent, and my period which was relieved a bit by Midol, but over all, no real issues with the elevation or tired muscles! I’m feeling good about making it to the top as our guides have said that the worst part is over! It still seems daunting, but this trek really is about the journey and not the destination (even though it’ll be freakin’ amazing to make it to the summit!).

Monday, August 22: Day 4

Moir Hut to Pofu Camp

Altitude: 4200m to 4020m

Distance: 12 km, Time: 7-8 hours

Habitat: Semi desert

SCREW THIS! I went and hid behind a rock for a solid 10 minutes today crouched in fetal position and crying from pain. Can we just take everything out so I’ll never have to deal with this stuff again?! Walking helps a bit, but when we are just sitting, I really feel the pain. Anyways… so we started out the day like any other, health check, porridge, and time to start hiking! Today was the best hiking day by far because the views were spectacular! We did a lot of up’s and downs, but it was never very steep and it was nice to just loll along at a relaxed pace. We climbed over boulders and leaped over streams, we got caught in the clouds and shuffled along dusty trails. It was also considerably colder- I actually put on my fleece over my t-shirt! Wyoming girl for the win! But for real, tomorrow I’ll have to pack another layer in my day bag! At dinner, Michael Powers did the math, and as the crow flies, we are only 6km from the summit, but in human terms, that’s 3 days, 20km, and almost 2000m up to go…

So we are high up, but not high enough yet. Sitting in Pofu camp, we are rewarded with a sea of clouds, which we are now above. Watching them come in and swirl around is unreal and all I want to do is dive right into the fluffy masses and go swimming! Best campsite thus far!

Tuesday, August 23: Day 5

Pofu Camp to Third Cave

Altitude: 4020m to 3960m

Distance: 7 km, Time: 6 hours

Habitat: Semi desert

6 hours climbing time? LIES! We were finally allowed to sleep in an extra 30 minutes today and we didn’t actually start hiking until 9:30ish. We arrived to our next camp exhausted, dusty, beaten down, and #overit a whole… 2 HOURS LATER! Haha jk it was such a fast hike we didn’t actually believe we were done when we got to the camp! It was a breeze to trek across the distance and we even went down a bit in elevation! We’ve been hanging between 13-14,000 ft for the past few days to help our bodies acclimate so we are ready for the final push to the summit, and it was nice to have this extra day to relax. So it was a pretty standard day- porridge, soup, uno. I think we played UNO for 4 hours this afternoon, and we even taught our waiter Lenny, toilet tent guy Johnny, and guide Baraka how to play! We went from 3 players to 7, then back down again, with others joining off and on. We took naps, climbing around on some rocks for fun, and watched it hail! It hailed for at least 2 hours and everything was coated in white! It was pretty cool!

Wednesday, August 24: Day 6

Third Cave to School Hut Base Camp

Altitude: 3960m to 4750m

Distance: 6 km, Time: 5 hours

Habitat: Alpine Desert

I feel like I’m on Mars. We started our highest ascent yet to the Base Camp for the Northern Circuit and I really feel like I’m on Mars! It’s so barren- rocks, dirt, the odd plant here and there, and nothing but the continual trudge up, up, up. The most interesting part of our hike was seeing some animals, Elan- an elk sized antelope thing with huge horns! Our guide Richard has been up the mountain over 200 times and has never seen them before, so he was pretty excited for us all to see them! The base camp is 1000m higher than we’ve ever been and boy howdy am I feeling it! The elevation started to get to me and gave me a throbbing headache that wasn’t staunched by food or water. In fact, I totally lost my appetite come lunchtime and took a total of one sip of soup. We got to camp a bit before lunch, and I slept. After lunch, I slept. Then threw up. Then slept. At dinner I ate a small portion of plain noodles (all I could force down). And then slept again.

Tonight is summit night. We are woken up at 10:30 pm for a light meal (which I had none of) and to prepare for the final push up the mountain. So this is it. The final test to see if I can make it up. I tell myself I can do it! I tell myself that the hardest part is already over! I tell myself I’m ready!

I lied to myself.

Thursday, August 25: Day 7

School Hut Base Camp to Uhuru Peak to Mweka Camp

Altitude: 4750m to 5895m to 3100m

Distance: 18 km, Time: 10-14 hours

Habitat: Stone scree and ice-camped summit to alpine desert

We wake up, me still sporting a pounding headache and start our ascent in the wee hours of morning. Fine, I can operate being tired. IM SO TIRED! And the guides lied! We were walking straight up, literally. You look up the mountain in the dark and all you see is a line of dots directly above you, groups of people all doing the same thing as you- trying to make it to the top. It was so steep and so difficult. There’s a marker, Hans Meyer cave, about a fourth of the way up, and I had thrown up 2 times before getting to this point. Drink some water, try to eat, keep the energy levels up, but the exhaustion didn’t really hit me until now. Trying to stand up and keep moving is getting harder and harder and I’ve gone numb to all feeling. The only thoughts in my head are “Keep moving. One step. Two step. Another.”

Our summit porter and aspiring guide, Emmanuel took my day bag from me at this point because he recognized that I was really hurting. Ok. Keep moving. We continue going up, we still have 6 hours before we reach Gillman’s Point at the top of the caldera. From there, it’s just a loop around the rim to Uhuru Peak. Ok. I can do this. I throw up. Not once, not twice, but three more times before making it to Gillman’s. Ever time I wretched off the hill, I nearly toppled over and if it hadn’t been for Emmanuel and Baraka sticking at my side holding me up, I might have. Emmanuel would give me water to clean myself and drink, and tissues to blow my nose. They both told me it was normal and kept encouraging me to keep moving. So I did. I kept moving forward because at this point, there’s no point in going back down. I didn’t want to give up. I couldn’t. I had to prove it to myself that I could do this.

We finally make it to Gillman’s point, take a quick photo, I vomit into the crater, and we keep moving. This brings my vomit total to 7 times. Hooray, let’s put it in the Guinness Book of World Records. After Gillman’s point is where the mental part of the trek begins. Everyone is so exhausted and ready to quit that it takes everything you have to stand back up and continue the uphill battle to the ultimate prize, Uhuru Peak. After 8 hours climbing straight up, the last thing I wanted to do was climb the final 2 hours to the peak. But Emmanuel pulled me up and we were off. At the last hill to the peak, looking up, I didn’t think I could do it. Emmanuel grabbed my hand and literally dragged me up that last hill to the peak.

We made it! Awesome. Nothing special, just a sign saying “Congratulations”. I couldn’t really enjoy it, but I smiled for the obligatory photos and cheered with everyone else. Can we go down yet? Yes?! THANK GOD! We made it to Uhuru Peak at 8:10am and then started the long haul down. On the way, there were a few people getting emergency help and I count my blessings that I didn’t need any medical assistance. I made it to the roof of Africa! The highest peak on the continent! What a feeling of accomplishment when I was actually able to feel again! On the way down, everything improved. My headache went away, I was able to eat and drink freely again, and felt a burst of energy surging! Maybe I was just so deliriously happy, but man oh man we flew down that mountain!

Finally rolling into Mweka Camp, all I could think was “halle-freakin-lujah”!

Friday, August 26: Day 8

Mweka Camp to Mweka Gate

Altitude: 3100m to 1800m

Distance: 10 km, Time: 3-4 hours

Habitat: Forest

Well this is it. I’m sore, hungry, fatigued, and generally ready to be done. But I made it to Uhuru Peak! And am still alive! Descending as fast as we did was really hard on my knees and I was really hurting towards the end. Finishing was unreal. The time had flown by so quickly and it was hard to believe that summit night actually happened. We collected our bags, said goodbye to our amazing porters, and went out to lunch with our three amazing guides, Richard, Elias, and Baraka, and our phenomenal chef, Reggie.

Climbing Kilimanjaro has been one of my biggest accomplishments thus far and has been such an incredible experience to share with my best friend Laura and the Powers family. I’m still in awe of what I overcame to make it to the top and how mentally strong I discovered myself to be. I wanted to give up more than once but I couldn’t let myself do that! I made it, and I couldn’t have done it with out the Kandoo crew helping me along every part of the way!